Dill Pickles
by Lonelyadelaide
Summary: Pippin is being hurt by a cousin, and he's hiding it from Merry. When Merry finds out, there will be trouble! Light romance. Also, first story, and I'm scared...don't be too rough!
1. Chapter 1

"Give it back, Pippin!"

"I don't have it! I don't even know what you're-oomf!" The tween hobbit doubled over, gasping a bit from the punch he'd received in the stomach.

"I don't believe you, _cousin_, give it back to me, now!" Dilly Took continued to beat his younger cousin for some time, encouraged by his friends.

"What is it?" Pippin finally wheezed. Tears were running down his apple cheeks, but he knew what would happen if he tried to fight back. "what do you want back?"

Dilly grasped Pippin's chin and raised it so he was looking into the frightened eyes. A shout came from behind.

"Dilly Took!"

Merry Brandybuck was sprinting up up the hill towards them, looking livid. "What in the Shire do you think you're doing?"

Dilly put more pressure on Pippin's chin, and looked at his other cousin innocently. "Why, Merry!" he ignored the glare. "Did you want some fun with our darling cousin as well?"

"Let him go." The Brandybuck snapped, eyes flashing. Dilly turned back to the younger Took and looked carelessly, unhurriedly, at the frightened, crying hobbit. He smiled coldly, then chuckled. Merry let out his breath, but did not relax.

"Silly boy." Dilly took on a fond tone. "You'll just give it back next time, won't you?"

"Y-yes." Pippin wept, trying not to look at Merry.

"Good lad." Dilly ran his hand through the curly brown hair. "See you soon, Pippin, Merry." the lot wandered off casually down the hill. Merry kept his eyes on them until they were out of sight, and then rushed to Pippin, catching the younger hobbit as he crumpled to the ground.

"Oh, Pippin," Merry murmured, gathering his favorite cousin into his arms, "My sweet Pip. Did they hurt you?"

"Not much, Merry." Pippin gasped. In truth his head was burning, his arm was bruised, one of his legs was in a bad way, and his ribs hurt like hell, but he knew that wasn't what Merry wanted to hear. "can you help me get home?"

When they reached the Thain's hole, Merry was surprised by Pippin whispering in his ear, "Not the door Merry. My window." Obligingly, the Brandybuck supported his cousin to the round window into Pippin's room. Pippin transferred his weight from Merry's shoulder to the wall and pulled the window open. He crawled in, shuddering at the pain. Broken ribs again. Merry followed.

"Right Pip. Off-" a cold hand was clamped over his mouth and he stared at his wide-eyed cousin in confusion,

"Merry." Pippin breathed, "please be quiet."

"Off with your shirt then, Pippin." Merry kept his voice low.

"No." Pippin made his slow way to the basin of water by the far wall and splashed his face. "I'm fine, Merry, really, I just need some rest. You can go now."

"What if I don't want to go?" Merry crossed his arms."

"Well then." a smile tugged at the Took's lips. "You can stay. I'm fine and I'm going to nap now." _Please leave so I can get undressed and fix myself_.

"And what" Merry approached him "if I don't believe you?" he put his hand on the younger hobbit's arm, who flinched.

"Why shouldn't you believe me?" a strained laugh, "I'm tired so I'm going to take a nap. What's so-"

"Hush, Pippin." Merry's hands swiftly pulled the suspended straps down off Pippin's shoulders and started to unbutton his white shirt. When he got to the last button, the Took came to his senses.

"Merry!" He hissed, blushing and still trying to be quiet. "I'm fine! Leave me alone and-" "No!" Merry cut him off, eyes flashing. "Pippin, sweetie," his eyes softened as he pled. "let me see, please!"

Pippin hesitated, and then slowly opened his shirt, eyes down. Merry looked for a moment and then raised tear-filled eyes to meet his cousin's.

"Oh, Pip!"


	2. Chapter 2

Bruises. Everywhere. Some were fresh, obviously from the beating Merry had interrupted that day, some were bleeding. Others were ugly purple and yellows, browns and blacks and blues. And there were broken ribs, that was clear enough. Merry stepped forward and loosened Pippin's grip on his shirt before slipping it all the way off. Dilly had been clever, only hurting where it would be concealed. Pippin's arms and back were also bruised, as well as scratched, and there was a clumsy bandage on his right forearm whee he had obviously tried to patch himself up.

This was all observed in a flash, though it seemed forever until Pippin would meet Merry's eyes.

"I'm so sorry Pippin, I could have stopped him! How long has this been happening?" Merry's voice was thick.

"Months, Merry-don't cry, please!-it wasn't that bad at first, just Dilly, and I was going to tell, but then the Proudfeet started too, and they said-oh, Merry!-they said they would make me a cripple if I ever told anyone, and now, Merry, what am I going to do?" The young hobbit was practically trembling, his voice a panicked whisper as his eyes darted around the room looking anywhere but Merry.

"Hush, Pip." The Brandybuck said in a soothing tone. "I won't let them hurt you, ever again! Calm now." He hesitantly lay his hand on his cousin's bare shoulder. Pippin seemed to come to himself and let out a shuddering sigh. Merry pulled him in for a careful hug, and the Took slowly relaxed against him. "I won't leave you. I can help you fix your ribs now, if you'll let me. Do you have any comfrey?"

"Yes," came the muffled reply, "from last time. Loads. It's in my dresser." Pippin pulled away. "Could you-could you do the cuts on my back, Merry? I've tried but I can't reach them..."

"Of course. Let's get those done first so you can lie down." he turned to the dresser standing by the bed, and opened it. Hanging inside the doors were bunches of dried herbs, mostly comfrey, which Merry pulled out, but also some lavender, which he handed to Pippin to sniff. Moving back to the far wall, Merry started soaking some of the comfrey in the basin.

"Pip, undo your britches and come over here. Get me the clay I saw in that jar on the windowsill first. Please." Merry's eyes softened as he saw Pippin wince, bending over to get his trousers undone. "This will feel better."

The older hobbit took the clay and mixed the comfrey sludge into it. He told Pippin to stand still, and then smeared most of the paste carefully on all the bruises. With the rest of the whole leaves, he soaked them enough to wilt, and pressed them to the cuts on Pippin's once-smooth back.

"Now lie down, silly, and get off that leg."

Pippin smirked at the tone, but submitted. Merry sat beside him on the low bed and started applying the rest of the comfrey-clay paste to the purpling ribs?

"You silly, sweet Took!" His voice choked again, but he tried to smile through it. "I'm going to kill Dilly and those Proudfeet."

"Merry." Pippin touched the crying boy's face gently, "Don't. It won't help. But if you...helped me tell my father" his voice was had dropped to it was barely audible, "I'd be grateful."

"Of course I will, Pippin." Merry wiped his hands on his trousers. "You should sleep now." he whispered to the drowsy Took. Pippin's eyes fluttered closed willingly.  
As the Brandybuck moved to leave, a hand snaked out and closed around his own.

"Stay with me, Merry?" Pippin murmured anxiously.

"Of course I will, Pip." Merry repeated, and lay down beside his favorite cousin. Pippin's breath evened out, but he didn't let go of Merry's hand. Merry smiled. They would figure out what to do in the morning.

_For now, this is enough._


	3. Chapter 3

"Pippin,"

"I can't, Merry! I can't! I just-"

"Pippin,"

"No! What if he finds out, what if he knows, oh kings, he-"

"_Pippin_!"

The cousins were facing eachother by the door in Pippin's room. Merry had just persuaded Pippin to get out of bed and dress. The younger boy was wearing a clean white shirt and a vest to support his ribs. The comfrey they had washed off, and Pippin was feeling much better. Until this. Merry was trying to get him to tell his father.

"...Merry...?"

"Shh, Pip. It's all fine. It will be all fine, I promise. Just-ah ah ah!" Merry lifted a finger to Pippin's lips when the younger hobbit looked about to interrupt. "This is my speech. You can't keep doing this. You must tell your father! He's the Thain! He can help-"

"I don't want to, Merry, please don't make me do this!" Pippin's eyes sparkled with tears, and his lower lip quivered.

"No. Interrupting. Peregrin. Took." Merry bit out. He felt terrible, and Pippin looked shocked. But the Thain of the Tooks was Pippin's father! He had most of the wealth in this part of the Shire, and most of the hobbits were on good terms with him, especially the other Tooks. Surely they could and would stop Dilly and the Proudfeet. "Why don't you want to? I promise I won't leave your side until Dilly is gone, so you have nothing to fear when you tell your father."

"Merry, I'm fine, I am. I just don't want to tell Da...he..." The Took looked down, "I'm scared, Merry." he whispered.

The Brandybuck sighed. _What can I do to make him feel safe?_

"Pip," Merry took his cousin's hands gently, "let's just try this, okay? I can go tell him, if you'd like."

"No." Pippin straightened his back, rolled up his sleeves, and met Merry's eyes in resignation. "I'll-I'll tell him. Let's go now."

"Good lad!" Merry smiled fondly at the green eyes and gave his hands a reassuring squeeze before leading him out of the room and down the hall to the rest of the hole. "Breakfast first."

The Thain's hole acted as both the home of the Thain and his family and a general social spot where the other Tooks would come to sit and put their feet up, smoke, drink, snack, and have a generally good time in a hole where family was abundant, but you didn't have to clean up after them. Hobbits of all ages could be found in any of the larger rooms at any time of day. Depending on how close to the Thain's family they felt and/or how intoxicated they were at the time, there were usually some scattered around at night as well. Pippin's father, the Thain, was always easy to find. No matter what size crowd was in his hole, he towered above them all. The blood of Bullroarer had skipped to him, and he stood at least two inches taller than any living relatives.

As Merry and Pippin made their way towards the kitchen they could hear the first visitors of the day cheerily waking the not-as-cheery ones from last night. Pippin's stomach rumbled and they both laughed.

"Did you know, Merry, I haven't eaten a thing since yesterday morning!" Pippin looked surprised at himself, and then pouted. "That's not right."

Merry shook his head. "I could eat fifteen breakfasts, I'm that hungry, Pip. I hope the larder's full and Pearl is here-she cooks better than anyone."

"I could eat _twenty_ breakfasts, Merry!" Pippin's natural enthusiasm was back. He managed to always be happy in the morning, it seemed to him that any day could be fine if the morning was good. "My sister might be here, I don't know. I haven't been-"

As they turned thought the door to the kitchen Pippin stopped suddenly. Leaning on the counter talking with the very sister they were discussing was Dilly.

Pippin looked nauseous. His face went white and for an instant he swayed, reaching to steady himself on the doorframe.

Merry felt anger rise in his chest like a demon. It was all he could do to keep from rushing at Dilly and punish him for _hurting my Pip_! But one look at the cousin in question changed his mind. Pippin looked as though he might faint at any moment, leaning weakly on the doorframe, white as a sheet and breathing shallowly.

Dilly straightened up and smiled at the cousins. "Good morning, sleepy heads! I was just about to come fetch you-I hope you're not too busy today, Pip. I have lots of fun things planned..."

Pearl laughed, bending over the fire to check the tea water. "You've got to take both, Dill, those two are near stuck together! Good morning, boys. Merry, grab me a loaf. And Pip, come stir this, there's a good lad."

Pippin took another shuddering breath and Merry put a strong hand on the small of his back.

"_Pippin_..."

"Aw, isn't that sweet, Pearl." Dilly grinned, "I can see what you mean! Merry can join us today! What do you think, Pippin?"

"Pip, go and get your father." Merry murmured. "I won't let him come after you."

"But Merry, you'll-"

"Yes, go get your father, Pippin." Dilly sneered, "Go get the _Thain_. See if that will help you, and then come and have fun with me. We'll go down to the Brandywine and-"

"Pearl." Merry's voice cut cooly across Dilly's. "Would you please go with Pippin to find your da?"

Something in the way he spoke made Pearl turn around. She saw Dilly stepping towards the boys, she saw Merry's hand move from Pippin's back to ball into a fist, and the way he glared at Dilly. And she saw her brother, shaking and pale, leaning on the doorframe and holding his arm out in front of Merry as if to protect him, stop him from being rash. The contrast between Merry's white shirt and the bruises on Pippin's bare arm was shocking. It clicked.

There was a resounding clang and Dilly crumpled to the floor. Pearl hung the cast-iron pot back in it's little hook by the fire.

"Now, let's go find our da, shall we?"


	4. Chapter 4

"It was Harvest, the day you rode out over Tookland." Pippin was standing in the center of the Thain's study, his father behind the desk and Merry by the door. "Dilly was here and we watched you getting ready. You were saying how...how proud you were of all of us; your hole was the best, and someday you'd be happy to take me with you for Harvest.

"You left and Dilly said that I was too little, that I'd always be too little and too soft and I always would be and I never deserved to be the Thainson. He was jealous, I think, and when I said that I would be the Thain eventually, whether I...whether I wanted to or not," Pippin didn't meet his father's eye, "he hit me. It wasn't hard, but I fell over. When I didn't fight back he must have realized that he could keep hurting me. Then the Proudfeet saw him one day when I was running and they caught me for him and all decided to 'have some fun with the Baby Thain'." Merry could hear the bitterness in the tween's voice.

"One day they saw Pervinca coming and told me that they would watch me and if I ever told anyone they would hurt me to a crippling. And since then I've been so scared. So scared, Da, and they always catch me if I run. That's why it was so bad yesterday-I was running to the river because I knew that Merry was there and I thought they hadn't seen me, but Dilly was watching. Dilly is always watching. And they caught me and broke my ribs again and then Merry saw them and came running up the hill and made them go."

There was a kind of quiet pride in how he said the last that made the Thain glance at the Brandybuck in the corner. His brown eyes were trained on Pippin, and there was a fierce loyalty in his stance. Pippin kept talking.

"Then he helped me home and made me compresses and stayed with me and told me I had to tell you." Pippin took a breath. "They always tell me to give them back the Thainship, that Dilly is the rightful Thainson." He looked down at his hands. "That I should be married to a lass by now, and not-" He stopped, seemingly realizing that he shouldn't say the next. He finished by saying, "And now Pearl's knocked him out with a skillet and they're in the kitchen."

The Thain was staring at his only son. The usually hard Took had tears in his eyes as he berated himself for not watching out for his youngest child.

"Peregrin Took." He cleared his throat and Pippin flinched. "I cannot tell you how sorry I am. I will take Dilly home and talk with his hole. We will decide what to do about him and then I shall ride to the Proudfeet." He stood up and came around his desk to pat Pippin's shoulder awkwardly. He almost turned away, but the hard exterior cracked and he pulled his son in for a brief hug.

"I will come back before supper. Do not leave my son's side, Meriadoc." The Thain strode towards the kitchen. Merry rolled his eyes at the Took's retreating back.

"As if I could let you out of my sight after that story!" The Brandybuck followed Pippin into the hall. "What I wouldn't give to-Pip? Where are we going?"

Pippin had grabbed Merry's arm and was pulling him down the hall. "I don't want to see him, Merry. Quick! In here." They ducked into a larder. A very small, very full larder, from which they could hear Dilly's woozy protests and Pearl's sharp comments as the Thain carried the bully out to the pony. Merry looked down slightly at Pippin, who was pressed against him in the close quarters. As soon as they heard the pony trotting away, Pippin's face relaxed into a giddy smile. His eyes met Merry's excitedly."Merry! Let's have a picnic in the garden! I'm so hungry!"

A/N Any suggestions? I'm a wee bit stuck.

Also, a friend of mine was playing background music on a native American flute for a wedding and he hoped no one noticed when he started on Pippin's song from Return of the King!


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter has to be dedicated to Ms. Underhill, the one who unknowingly pushed me to actually post this chapter... Sorry it's so short... Enjoy!**

Pippin was content. There was food in his belly, his ribs were fixing up nicely, and his favorite cousin was lying beside him on the grass. It was a beautiful day.

Merry was having a tough time of it-Pippin had the distinct personality advantage of being abundantly cheerful and living in the present, whereas his Brandybuck cousin tended to think more often and harder. At the moment Pippin was putting the events of the morning to the back of his mind and enjoying the day, while Merry could think of nothing but the Took's story. From the moment they walked into the Thain's study and Pippin had start talking, Merry had been a hopeless wreck. _He's alright, he's not hurt that bad, stop thinking about them. And last night. And how helpless and scared and han-STOP_.

Merry shook his head violently to clear it and sat up. Pippin was chatting away to him, not raising his head from the grassy path where they had chosen to have their picnic. His eyes were closed, and his hair was still tousled from their morning larder excursion. He was lying on his back, with his knees bent and his left arm was pulling idly at the grass while his right was resting over his chest, at a slightly awkward angle because of his ribs.

"And then he just fell in! Have you ever seen anything funnier, Merry? But then he couldn't swim so Frodo had to pull him out. I wonder why he did that. It was shallow enought that I could stand, Merry, why did Frodo pull him out so fast?" Pippin opened his eyes suddenly to see a pink faced hobbit gazing at him.

"What was that, Pip?" Merry had actually heard the question, but was distracted by the memory of Frodo pulling Sam back to the safety of the Brandywine shore, both of them with terrified looks on their faces, and exchanging a longer hug than was strictly necessary. _Ah_...

Pippin sat up when he saw the blank look on Merry's face, groaning a little when his previously-thought-to-be-fine ribs protested.

"Merry?"

No response. Pippin crawled a little closer.

"Merry, why was Frodo so worried about Sam?"

"It's because they're in love." Merry grinned.

Pippin's face brightened. "Like us!" Merry smiled at the innocent joy in his cousin's face, but then his smile dropped.

"No, Pip. Not like us. They're in love like Pervinca and Jolly Cotton."

Pippin frowned. He knew he looked younger than he was, he knew he even acted younger than he was sometimes, but this was insulting!

"Yes, Merry, like us. Vinca and Jolly are boring. Frodo and Sam are fun-like us. They're in love-like us. I know" Pippin looked at Merry's quickly paling face, and smiled. "I know you love me, and I'm in love with you. Don't be scared."

Merry could not believe his ears. After the morning trauma, after the larder, pressed so close, after the picnic, when he had just been able to relax, the tween he called a friend was stabbing him in the heart with his innocence.

"Pippin. Not like us. You're too young to understand." he stood up swiftly.

"Am not, Merry!" Pippin tried to scramble up, but fell back with a gasp. Merry's eyes softened for an instant.

"Here." Merry took Pippin's hands and pulled him up. The Took stumbled a bit on his bad leg and Merry steadied him, one arm around his waist. The sun shone on Pippin's hair and turned his eyes to emeralds as they faced eachother. Before either knew what was happening, Merry's lips were on Pippin's, soft and so quick that Pippin was barely sure it had happened before Merry drew away.

"Pippin." Merry breathed. And ran.


	6. Chapter 6

_What was I thinking?_ Merry was screaming silently. He didn't know where he was running, only that he was trying to put as much distance between himself and the Thain's Hole as possible. The sun shone brightly on the road and on the river _'and on his hair'_ came to Merry's mind unwillingly. _Stop it! What have you_ _done, Brandybuck, what was that all about?_ The road curved sharply upwards and Merry slowed at the green door. His head was slowly clearing, and his fingers drifted up to his lips quickly, realizing that it was true—he had just kissed his cousin and fled. Merry sighed shakily and pattered up the stone steps to Bag End.

"Hullo, Mr. Merry, sir!" San Gamgee's head popped up from behind a bush.

"'Lo, Sam. Is Frodo in?" Merry attempted a weak smile.

"Right here, Brandybuck! What can I do for you?" Frodo's laughing blue eyes appeared next to Sam, but his brow quickly creased at the sight of his cousin. "You alright?"

Merry couldn't help it. He burst into tears.

Frodo was instantly at his cousin's side, one arm around his shoulders and the other hand searching for a handkerchief.

"Merry! What's the matter? Tell me!"

"Can't." Merry coughed, trying and failing to stop the sobs. He finally gave up, and buried his face in Frodo's shoulder. The adopted Baggins wrapped his arms around his shuddering cousin and looked at Sam in confusion. The gardener seemed as baffled as he was, but came to stand beside the two, rubbing a mostly clean hand up and down the weeping hobbit's back.

"Have you got hurt, Mr Merry? Is it...Master Pippin?"

The Thain had ridden swiftly to Dilly's hole and delivered a semi-concious Dilly to his family. While the kind-faced mistress directed her numerous children around, fetching warm water and cloths to tend Dilly's head, the master of the hole led Pippin's father into a quieter room and pulled out his pipe, chuckling about "boys being boys" and "never such a one for a bump on the head".

"Now, Master Thain, what's brought you here with my son half-alive and a goose egg on his noggin?"

"Your boy, my dear cousin, has been leading the Proudfoot lads in a spot of mischief." The Thain began, lighting his own pipe.

"Well now, that's hardly a surprise!" The Took chuckled, "my Dilly's a Took after his da's heart! And he's been in trouble only about half the times your Peregrin has, beggin' your pardon..." He trailed off, seeing the Thain's face darken at the mention of Pippin.

"Yes, he is a Took. But my son has ever only been involved in pranks such as setting the hogs free, taking a few mushrooms from the frankly deserving and forgiving Farmer Maggot, or pulling his sister's braids. Naught that causes any real damage or lasting harm to friends or property. Your son, Master Cousin, has been beating Peregrin."

"...No..." The hobbit-father could not seem to believe his ears. The pipe hung from his lips, and he caught it just before it might have set fire to his weskit.

"He has. Meriadoc Brandybuck interrupted a particularly brutal beating in which Dilly broke Peregrin's ribs, bruised his back to bleeding, and did something unspeakable to his leg so that walking is nigh impossible!" The Thain's voice had risen to a thundering growl. His fellow Took was aghast.

"My dear Thain, you can't possibly—and the Proudfeet?-is Peregrin alright?-I'm shocked, right enough. What can we possibly do?" He sat down weakly in an armchair. "This is terrible."

"It is. Fortunately for Peregrin, when he was being threatened this morning—in our own hole!- the young Brandybuck was there and my Bullroarer of a daughter, Pearl, took a skillet to Dilly's head."

"And what of the Proudfeet?"

"I am on my way to see them now." Pippin's father said grimly. There was no doubt about what he would do once they were in his sights. "I left Peregrin in Meriadoc's hands, so they will not try anything now."

"Let me ride with you, Saradoc." One Took looked at the other. "It's the very least I can do."

Pippin cursed. What had he done? Why had Merry run? Was he wrong in thinking it was love in his cousin's eyes? The Took knelt in the grass where he had fallen when Merry ran. His leg hurt, and suddenly he felt very small and vulnerable in the open with the sun shining down on him. Pippin raised his head at the sound of a chipmunk chattering in a young apple tree.

"Hullo, Pip." came a familiar voice from behind.

"...And then Uncle Paladin took Dilly home and told me to...to..." Merry trailed off, looking ill. The relief he felt at telling his understanding cousin Frodo everything was suddenly replaced by cold dread.

"He told you not to leave Pippin, didn't he?" Frodo questioned grimly from his perch on the chair arm.

"Sam," he called, standing up quickly, "leave the tea, Merry's not staying." The Baggins grasped Merry's hands and pulled him out of the cushioned chair. "We'll come along to make certain, Merry, but you had better run."

The Brandybuck's eyes stung from the tears he had shed, but a new light had found its way into them. He would keep Pippin safe. But was it too late?

Frodo gave him a tight hug that was not, Merry thought wryly, very reassuring.

"I hope you're wrong, cousin. Thanks..." Merry hesitated at the door and looked out warily, "for everything." Frodo smiled, and Sam, who had come out to the door as well, winked.

"Mr. Merry, you'd not question your cousin Frodo, would you? Now run and find your Pippin."

And again, Merry ran.


	7. Chapter 7

Hi! NEVER FEAR! All my stories will be updated eventually, but for the next six weeks I will have spotty Internet at best. Yay, music camp!

Thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited and left reviews! I will be back soon!

lonelyadelaide


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